Rythm
by Ryuuen Chou
Summary: Reborn in a world where nothing is the same, he is searching for a piece of his past. But will what he finds be what he wants? (BradSchu, AU)
1. Infection

Rhythm_ By Ryuuen  
  
Warnings: Oh, just the usual... shounen-ai, dark themes, A/U, and a little strangeness and gender-switching...  
  
A/N: This fic was inspired entirely by the song "Real Emotion" from FFX-2. And thus, it is set to it. Have fun with this one. ^_^  
  
Rhythm_  
  
Prologue: .Infection. ********  
  
~What can I do for you?  
  
Through the smoke, shimmering lights are seen, music throbbing, a beat like a pulse until the vocals pick up, and it was music that drove out any other sound, and even if you screamed no one could hear you. This was very good for the girl who stood near the wall, letting the music drown out every thought, every emotion, until she was just existing, feeling only the rampant beat and the wall behind her. She was barely aware of standing on her own feet, and paid no mind to anyone around her, and damned if she would move for another hour at least.  
  
~What can I do for you?  
  
He entered through the back door, the pulsing rhythm and beat of the music giving him the beginning of a headache. He looked a little out of place in the strange scene, the businessman in the club, but he ignored the patron's strange looks, his eyes focusing on finding just one person. Just the person he had come to find. He had known she would be here; of course she would be. Anything to drown out the thoughts that plagued her, her own ruined mind.  
  
~What can I do for you?  
  
She didn't look up as he drew near, though surely she knew he was there. She had always had a sixth sense about that sort of thing. He reached out to touch her shoulder and she flinched back, jade eyes opening, glaring, daring him to try to touch her again. She looked so dangerous, like a caged tiger, wild orange hair and livid green eyes, indignance and fury radiating from every bit of her expression. He raised an eyebrow speculatively, his arm returning to his side. At least he knew it was really her.  
  
~I can't hear you!  
  
He nodded slightly to her, not making another effort to touch her. Even if he could beat her in a fight, he had no desire to do so. But he acknowledged her, thereby forcing her to do the same for him. She watched him with level eyes, the anger still burning in them, though now faded a bit, more speculative than pissed off. She looked at him as if to say, What the hell are you doing here? but he couldn't respond. Instead he motioned for her to follow him and walked back towards the exit. To his great surprise, she followed.  
  
~What can I do for you?  
  
Once outside, she exploded in curses and questions, Who the fuck are you?, What do you want with ME?. Rather, he waited for her to calm down. When she finally did, he spoke.  
  
"You need help." He said simply, watching her with inexpressive golden eyes. "I'm here to offer it."  
  
She stared, wide-eyed, her mouth half-open for a witty retort or another curse, at him. This was certainly not what the red-head had been expecting. She frowned.  
  
"Yanno, I'd love ta let yah, but I'm low on cash." She said finally, grudgingly. So she wanted his help, he thought, smiling inwardly. She spoke ackward English, but that could change. He could help her. And he wanted to.  
  
~What can I do for you?  
  
"Money is not an object," he said after a moment of thought, reaching out his hand for her to take. "My name is Brad Crawford. Come on, we have work to do."  
  
The girl took his hand, and together they left that slum, flying into the future that neither of them knew for sure.  
  
~end prologue~ 


	2. Beat

Rythm_ By Ryuuen  
  
Warnings: Same as last time.  
  
A/N: Chapter one is heeere~! Woot! And if you haven't already guessed who the redhead is, you'll find out this time. I hope? ^^ And if there doesn't seem to be much plot, wait and see. ^_^  
  
Rythm_  
  
Chapter 1: .beat. ********  
  
~Far beyond the hazy borders of my heart  
  
She looked in wonder at her surroundings. It was plain she had never been in a place that looked so... elegant, expensive. Brad drew the line when she ran over to look at a very expensive vase, though, and drew her back by the shirtsleeve. She looked up at him with her bright eyes, surprised by the restraint. He gave her the very barest of smiles and pulled her through the door into the apartment he lived in.  
  
~I can see a place that's something like this  
  
There was a young man sitting at the table when they got in. He was scarred and had only one eye. He had the palest hair she had ever seen, and skin that was maybe a little less pale than that, but not much. His single amber eye, however, was what she noticed first. What drew her to him. There was recognition in that eye, and something else she wasn't quite sure what was. But there was a pleasent white noise in her head, and she didn't have to know anything else but what she saw. The dining room-slash-kitchen was fairly large and well-furnished. The walls were cream, and the refridgerator was chrome. She looked at Brad for some kind of comfort and he looked back, then looked at the man at the table.  
  
"This is Farfarello, Schuldig. Don't you remember him?" He asked. She shook her head. What the hell...?  
  
~Every now and then I don't know what to do  
  
The one called Farfarello watched her expressions with interest. But if she didn't remember them, why had Brad brought her here? Perhaps he didn't know? But no, Brad always knew. Just as he had known that Farfarello himself remembered. Surely he knew that this girl, who had been Schuldig, didn't. Unless.. he shook the thought from his head. He was not even going to let the thought cross his mind that Brad might have more in store for the than just reassembling the team. He refused that thought. If he let it in, it might take over his thoughts. He didn't want that to happen. He was snapped out of his reverie by a voice, however. When he opened his eye again, he found himself staring directly into two wide, bright green eyes.  
  
"Farfarello..." She said softly, looking at him as if to commit his face to her memory. "How.. how did you lose your eye?"  
  
He just laughed.  
  
What a wonder that she didn't know.  
  
~Still I know that I can never go back  
  
"In a car accident." He replied once he thought he could keep a straight face through the blatant lie. Behind Schuldig, he saw Brad smile slightly, then hide it behind his hand when he realized that Farfarello could see him. But that was just like Brad. He didn't like anyone to know that he had a sense of humor.  
  
"No, you didn't," she said, startling Farfarello with the clarity of her voice, the plainness of what she said. She said it so bluntly, it nearly knocked him from his seat. But when she went on, his surprise faded slightly. "Look... this was done by a sharp object, no? See..."  
  
With this, she launched into a mini-lecture on trajectory and what could have happened. Farfarello swallowed a laugh and saw Brad making an effort not to chuckle. Somehow it would figure that their Schuldig wouldn't be reborn the same way twice. Now, s/he was a genius. Or something like that, anyway.  
  
~And all the things I've seen, in those hazy dreams  
  
Once the lecture died down, as did Farfarello and Brad's urge to laugh, the one-eyed assassin leaned back in his chair, inspecting their most recent addition. She was still tall, and still beautiful, with bright-jade eyes and long, shockingly red hair. The only thing that seemed to have changed was his/her sex. S/he hadn't changed as much as they had thought s/he might. Not much more than the two of them had. Well, for one thing, Farfarello was slightly more sane than he had been, although Brad, for the most part, seemed to have remained Brad. Or at least, Farfarello had yet to see any real change in the behavior or appearence of the precog. They had yet to find Nagi, but Farfarello was fairly sure he wouldn't have changed that much. At least, he hoped not. Because he was finally getting back the people who made him comfortable. His... dare he say it? ..His family.  
  
~Can't compare to what I'm seeing now  
  
It didn't take long for Schuldig's attention to be claimed by something else. Her insatiable curiousity seemed to have returned full-steam when she saw that there was no one here who would harm her for poking around. She looked in the fridge and seemed amazed by how much food was in it (though there really wasn't that much), and played with Brad's laptop until he took it away, vaguely afraid that she would break it. After that she played with the desktop machine, which Brad didn't mind as much. After all, all of his important filed were on his laptop. And he had to admit it amused him to see the red-headed German girl cursing in five languages at the computer as she tried to get it to work. He looked back and saw that even Farfarello looked amused by this, although unlike Brad, Farfarello eventually got up to help her figure it out. Brad wouldn't have. But that was just one of a number of differences between himself and Farfarello. But it was okay... they got along fine despite that.  
  
~Everything's so different  
  
It wasn't long before the complete silence brough Brad out of his thoughts, and he looked over to see what Farfarello and Schuldig were doing. They were both staring blankly at the computer screen, which had gone black, and Schuldig muttered something that sounded vaguely like "Oh, shit." Brad walked over and gave it a cursory look over.  
  
"What did you do?" He asked the guilty party as they both turned their wide eyes (or, in Farfarello's case, eye) to him. Farfarello was silent for a long moment, but then Schuldig answered instead.  
  
"I... was just playing with it.. and it died." She said, giving him a weak, apologetic smile. He sighed.  
  
"Get away from that thing, I'll handle it," he told them, watching the red- head scramble out of the computer chair like her ass was on fire. He sat down in her place and started typing a couple of commands for the DOS prompt.  
  
How predictable. She had somehow managed to crash the whole system.  
  
~It just brings me to my knees  
  
Some time later, Brad watched Farfarello showing Schuldig around the apartment, explaining some things as he went to the curious former outsider. He chuckled softly behind his hand.  
  
At long last, he had his friends back. His team.  
  
--end chapter one-- 


End file.
